“The uphill struggle for precision and
accuracy is made all the more Sisyphean by equally ignorant (or simply
apathetic) presidents including the current Sciolist in Chief.”Equally?Public “pandemic ignorance,” explains Otus.Washington’s birthday Feb. 22 was celebrated
as a holiday until President Trump by executive order changed the name to
Presidents’ Day.From the looks of the
advertisements in the newspaper the last few days, businesses are
delighted.Not just one, but all our
presidents are commodified in yet another profit opportunity.Otus observes the “vast indolent segments of
American society, manipulated by the advertising industry” with sciolism their crowning
achievement.

Otus’s amusing perceptions sometimes lead
to sobering realities.The growing
power of the presidency particularly over foreign affairs and the simultaneous
weakening of Congress and the principle of separation of powers are worrying
other observers of US history.Another
shop ‘til you drop Presidents’ Day (forget George Washington) is pleasant for
carpet, clothes, and casket companies.But when we come to our senses, what should we think about the power—or
rather the abuse of power—by our presidents?

Long
History of President Up, Congress Down Accelerated by Wars and Security
Obsession

Wars are the oxygen of executive
power.We must go back in time to the
Spanish American War, to WWI, particularly to WWII, and the Korean and Vietnam
Wars to comprehend the enormous expansion of presidential power, especially in
foreign affairs up to today.For
example, Nixon, without informing let alone obtaining the consent of Congress
or the American people, dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos, as much as was
dropped on all of Europe and the Pacific in WWII. For another: The
Supreme Court upheld in United
States v. Reynolds (1953) a new precedent, allowing the executive
branch to assert an all-encompassing “state secret privilege” as a basis for withholding information
from public scrutiny.

In Daybreak (2009), Parts I and II, David Swanson explains how the
Executive Branch expanded its power, and how the Legislature, which has great Constitutional
power, allowed the imperial presidency to happen.

Nuclear
Weapons

In Bomb Power (2010),
Garry Wills draws a direct line from the Manhattan Project to the usurpations
of George W. Bush and reveals how the atomic bomb transformed our nation down
to its deepest constitutional roots by dramatically increasing the power of the
modern presidency and redefining the government as a national security state.

World
Dominance and Permanent War

Andrew Bacevich,.Washington
Rules.2010.Regardless of the president or party,
the basic edifice of the U.S. National Security State (NSS) has remained
unchanged since the end of WWII and the start of the Cold War: 1) a worldwide
military presence; 2) armed forces not for defense but for dominance; and 3)
intervention in other nations from influencing elections to military invasion
(over 40 since1945).From Harry Truman to Barack Obama, these
3 principles have remained sacrosanct.The result has been perpetual war and insolvency.
These principles and their wars
provide the bedrock for the authoritarian president.

Government
of Security and Fear: the US National Security State

Glenn
Greenwald’s No Place to Hide(2014), on
Snowden, is replete with examples of excessive presidential power fueled by official
fear-mongering and public fear: “the post-9-11 veneration of security above all
else has created a climate particularly conducive to abuses of power” (p. 2).

Bush
IIThe end of the US democracy caused by the “fascist shift”?Naomi
Wolf, “Fascist
America, in 10 Easy Steps”:

From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps
that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. George
Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.

Obama

Gardner’s
Killing Machine narrates the drawdown in Iraq, the counterinsurgency warfare in
Afghanistan, the rise of the use of drones, and targeted assassinations from
al-Awlaki to Bin Laden.What has come
into view, is the new face of American presidential power: high-tech,
secretive, global, and lethal.Obama has
simply built on the expanding power base of presidential power that reaches
back across decades and through multiple administrations. TrumpGoogle Search 2-19-18.Assessment of President Trump’s first year is
still fragmented.I found articles on
Trump’s use of executive orders, of Trump testing the limits of his powers, an
article of several paradoxes, his power over Congress, over the public, and
much more, a flood of publications.

NEED
TO RESTORE THE SEPARATION AND BALANCE OF POWERS

An impassioned opponent of the
growing power of the presidency over foreign affairs, the weakening of
Congress, and in general the undermining of the principle of separation of
powers, is former Senator J. William Fulbright from Arkansas.For example, from his The Crippled Giant (1972).“Far from having been rendered obsolete by the realities of the nuclear
age, the checks and balances of our Constitution have become more essential
than ever.Nuclear weapons, ballistic
missiles, and a vast arsenal of lesser weapons have vested in the single person
of the president of the United States something approaching absolute power over
the lives of millions of people all over the world” (215).–Dick

Otus might
observe: Only a sciolist population further deluded by commercialism would
celebrate our Presidents as a whole without distinguishing the better from the
worse.

To be
removed from this mailing, drop me a line unsubscribe,
but I hope you will continue to attend the Potluck!

OMNI’s FEBRUARYVEGETARIAN/VEGAN
POTLUCK is Wednesday, FEBRUARY 14, 2018, at OMNI, Center for Peace, Justice,
and Ecology (2ND Wednesdays).We start eating at 6:00. All are welcome.

VV IS
SPREADING, and OMNI’s Vegetarian Action and
OMNI members arereporting and
advocating the good news.We are
advancing the better future.This
newsletter expresses the belief that Vegetarianism/Veganism VV is a powerful
force for change when all of its principles are advocated:VV sustains and improves health, the
protection of animals, and the climate.

You may want to enjoy and discuss some old or new vegetarian or
vegan recipes, to talk about your experiments with VV cooking, or your
concerned about cruelty to animals or global warming and climate
catastrophe. OMNI’s director is Gladys Tiffany.OMNI is located at 3274 Lee Avenue parallel
to N. College southeast of the Village Inn and south of Liquor World.
More information: 935-4422; 442-4600.

Car directions to OMNI: Take College to Harold St (at Flying Burrito), turn east
(right if you’re heading north). Go one block to Lee and turn left.Go one block to Bertha and we’re the gray
brick on the corner, 2nd house south of Liquor World, solar panels on
roof!

“…the
groundbreaking documentary that illustrates the power of plant-based diets to
improve health and prevent diseases like type 2 diabetes, had its premier in
Delhi and Mumbai….”Good Medicine is published by the Physicians Committee for
Responsible Medicine.(Thanks to Ruth
Frances for the copy of the magazine.)

More
from Good Medicine (Winter 2018):

“Why
Athletes Are Racing to a Vegan Diet”

“Physicians
Committee Names Nonprofit of the Year”

“Learn
“How Not to Die’ on NutritionCME.org”

“Evidence
Mounts for Grain and Against Processed Meat”
(colorectal cancer)

“Diabetes
Risk Increases with Meat Intake”

“Red
and Processed Meats Increase Risk for Heart Attacks”

And
more.

Kim
Severson.“Meatless and Motivated.”The New
York Times (Nov. 29, 2017).

“Black
Americans are going vegan in growing numbers, driven by issues of health,
politics and more.”

David
Pierson. (LA Times)“Creation Has to Taste Like the Real
Thing.”NADG (2-3-18).“Beyond Meat
hopes to concoct plant-based bacon, steak.”Tyson’s is one of its backers.

Morality is at the heart of the matter. As a
child, I found it difficult to draw the distinction between martyred saints and
murdered animals. We are morally responsible for all of our choices, including
the choice to kill.Read more...

10 Jan 2018 – Years ago, we believed that we weren’t animals and that animals
were here solely for our use. Indeed, a cow was just a walking burger, steak of
Sunday roast, keeping itself fresh and tasty ready for when we were hungry.

Luckily, for their sake, things have progressed significantly
from then and now we recognise that animals (including our “superior” human
selves in that category) can experience emotions from more simple ones such as
happiness and sadness to more complex ones such as empathy, jealousy and grief.
Animal sentience is defined as the ability
to feel, perceive and experience subjectively. In other words, it’s about
emotions and feelings and in some respects, having an awareness that “you are
you”.

In fact, the scientific evidence for animals being sentient is
vast – so clear that three scientists read 2,500 papers studying sentience in
non-human animals and concluded confidently that sentience does indeed exist.

If you saw Blue Planet II recently,
for example, you’ll have seen the footage of a pilot whale carrying around her
dead calf. For most humans, this clearly demonstrates a form of grieving,
particularly given the behaviour changes in the wider family pod.

The evidence for sentience

Studies have shown that sheep are able to recognise the faces of
their sheep friends even after being separated for two years.
Elephants from strong family groups with immense memories and they cry when
they are hurt (both physically and emotionally). Capuchin monkeys know when
they are receiving unequal pay (grapes
vs cucumber) and Macaques develop individual cultures, particularly when it
comes to how one should wash a potato.

Chimpanzees like to keep the peace by redistributing bananas if
someone complains that their share is unfair and
even rats have been shown to demonstrate empathy by giving up their
favourite snack to save a drowning friend.
They also giggle when being tickled.

But it isn’t just from watching their behaviour that we can say
animals are sentient. When we examine the brains of species (and indeed
individuals), we can draw parallels from what we know about human brains and
start to make assumptions.

Emotions mainly stem from a part of our brain called the “limbic
system”. Our limbic system is relatively large and indeed humans are a very
emotive species. So when we come across a brain that has a smaller limbic
system than ours, we assume it feels fewer emotions. But, and here’s the big
but, when a limbic system is comparatively much bigger than ours, we don’t
assume it feels more emotions than us. Most likely because we cannot imagine
something that we do not feel or even know about.

The act of killing

In some marine mammals, their limbic system is four
times larger than ours is. In addition to this, some marine
mammals have spindle cells, which we originally thought were unique to humans,
allowing us to make rapid decisions in complex social situations. Arguably,
would these evolve if they weren’t used for the same (or at least similar)
purposes.

One potential reason why we don’t like thinking too much
about animal sentience is because we
like to kill animals. Some to eat and some, quite simply because
we do not like them. Look at those poor spiders in autumn, coming in to find
some shelter, only to meet their end being smacked by a slipper wielding human.
We also turn a blind eye to systematic cruelty on a mass scale to ensure we
save some money on meat at the supermarket. It’s far easier to pretend these
animals don’t have feelings or emotions so that we can enjoy a cheap
dinner without the emotion of guilt
creeping in.

So is animal sentience a big deal? Yes, it is. We need to ensure
we include it everywhere to safeguard the welfare of all animals, not just our
pets. We live in a world where a lady putting a cat in a bin
causes immense public shaming, yet we’ll pop down to the nearest fast food
outlet and eat meat that has lived the most abhorrent life ever without
thinking twice. It really is time that we spent more time thinking about the
thinking beings around us.

Heather Murphy.(The New York Times).“If Fish Looks Sad, It Probably Is.”NADG
(Jan. 15, 2018), 1D.Under-reported fish sentience research
advances.“New research…has been
radically shifting the way that scientists think about fish cognition, building
a case that pet and owner are not nearly as different as many assume.The neurochemistry is so similar that it’s
scary,” said Julian Pittman, a professor at the Department of Biological and
Environmental Sciences at Troy University in Alabama.“Study after study show how fish are defying
aquatic stereotypes: Some fish use tools, others can recognize individual
faces.Research has found that fish are
naturally curious and seek out novel things,” according to Victoria
Braithwaite, a professor of fisheries at Penn State University, “who studies fish
intelligence and fish preferences.” A lot of research has shown fish suffering
from depression.So if you have
kidnapped a fish for your pleasure, be sure his or her tank is large and full
of interesting objects!(Summarized by
Dick).

“The Other Handmaid’s Tale.Wake Up:Cheese—Yes, Cheese!—Is a Result of Rape.”From
the TV series to PETA’s video PETA.org/CowRape and “I, Calf.”Join Vegans Against Rape.

Breaking News

The historian Christian Maulwurf,
University of Schlect Bose, announced yesterday the discovery of a long lost
archive of rumored secret records that reveal a unique research program by the
Nazis during WWII.The Wolfsheim
concentration camp commandant Col. Josef Kannibale tried to turn the camp away
from total slaughter to something positive.In an isolated corner of the camp, he fed inmates very scarce wholesome
food containing maximum calories to fatten them up for consumption.

It was not an easy decision, for he had
been taught his entire life to abhor eating human flesh.It was one of the strongest taboos in the
entire world for its entire history.But
after the successful invasion of Europe by the Allies, and the rapidly
decreasing amount of calories available to the German people, he decided he
must overcome his inhibition against carnivorism (carnism for short) to help
Germany turn back the enemy armies.

It was a difficult task he set himself,
for the people he had to work with—to plump up— even those just off the trains,
were thin.[Inspiration: Sarah
Meehan.(Baltimore Sun).“Cattle Breeder Pursues Juicy Tenderness.”NADG (1-10-18).]

“PETA’s 20-Year Campaign to Take the Murder out
of Meat.”PETA Global (Winter 2018).Recognition of the intelligence of
chickens and the development of cultured meat.

Red
Lobster will help you save money on your electric and gas bills and give you a
free dinner.Help environment?Help stop warming?No mention of those realities.And no mention of boiling lobsters
alive.Are we making progress or not?

Joanna
Klein.“Plants Show Feeling, Respond to
Sedation, Study Says.”NADG (2-12-18).“…plants are complex organisms, perhaps less
different from animals than is often assumed.”Albert Schweitzer, as a physician, reflected about killing a less
complex animal like bacteria to save a more complex one.Share your thoughts.

Warming

VEGETARIAN/VEGAN ACTION has followed
research on the relation between carnivorism and
global warming.For example,“Research
out of Oxford University’s Oxford Martin School finds that widespread adoption
of a vegetarian diet around the world could reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by nearly two-thirds.” The
Humanist (Nov.-Dec. 2017), p. 9.And see “Vegetarian Vegan Diet and
Climate Catastrophe, Google Search, 11-7-17,” in Vegetarian Action #42.

56 billion animals are subjected to unbearable conditions and
slaughtered every year to feed our meat addiction. There’s one
simple thing we can do together today: eat less meat. Join the
global pledge and together let's help end this cruelty:

Dear friends,

56 BILLION animals are crammed into filthy, windowless cages and
slaughtered every year to feed our meat addiction.

It’s truly horrible, and it may take years to shut down these disgusting
factory farms, but there's one thing we can all do today that
could accelerate their end: eat less meat.

Avaaz is 46-million-strong and global. If we each pledge to go
meat-free just one day a week, even if we are already vegetarian
or vegan, then invite our friends, celebrities, and companies to join, we
could help build the largest global pledge ever!

Let's send a signal to industrial meat producers that their days are
numbered, and begin to turn the tide on this cruelty.

Our meat
consumption isn't just fueling mass animal torture, it's killing our
planet! Livestock contributes more to global warming than all
cars, planes, and buses worldwide, and 75% of all our
agricultural land is devoted to crops for livestock feed. It's gotten out
of hand!
We don’t all have to become vegetarian overnight, but experts say
cutting back on meat is the single best thing we can do to stop planetary
catastrophe.

Momentum is already building, but if we supercharge a global pledge now,
our movement from India, to Brazil, to the United States has unique
potential to spark a worldwide trend to radically reduce demand for meat,
and eventually shut down these revolting farms. Let’s each pledge
one small step today:

Many said we could never stop our fossil fuel addiction, but
when enough of us together started changing our habits, and demanding our
governments took action, the needle moved. Let’s come together again to
stop this cruelty and save our planet, together.

Avaaz is a 44-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and
values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz"
means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members
live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6
continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest
campaigns here, or follow us onFacebook or Twitter.